Howzit Puamana, I remember that swell and I think it was 72' since we stayed in town the night before so we could catch it earlier but we surfed 3's. That was an insane swell for waikiki but oh so much fun. Aloha,Kokua
Back to Kavaʻs question about the similarities/differences between AlaMo and Maʻalaea; from my point of view they were really different but shared some common likenesses; AlaMo had 3 distinct faces; small, 1-4 ft when rides from the middle [like Donalds] were happening; the trick was negotiating all the sections; next face was the Medium…consistant 4-6 and swinging from the south so the takeoff was way deep towards Rockpile…those were some Maʻalaea like waves as you had to really set your course and drive down the line, sneaking under the reform from the bowl; then there was the large face when the bowl was the wave to ride, like riding a thick N. shore wave on the S shore; on those big days you could still take off deeply to the south and ride until a kickout before the bowl was required; having ridden a little at Maʻalaea and a lot at AlaMo I would have to say that AlaMo was consistantly more powerful and had better surface conditions; no doubt, when overhead, Maʻalaea has plenty of power, but not like the power of the AlaMo Bowl which is like a Sunset wave; Garbage Hole was usually ridden on those smaller days [ up to head high] and left to itself on big days due to the danger factor; as mentioned before, if GH was alive and well today, it would be a major hangout for all types of surfing; sometimes the photos of Maʻalaea and Alamo sort of look similar but the wave Feels really different when riding; being a goofy, AlaMo would be my choice; Maʻalaea on the other hand seems more to resemble a G-land type wave that peels and sections and is much of the time unmakeable; plus the fact that the strong trades can make surface conditions and the comfort factor less than ideal; finally, the consistancy of rideable waves factor has AlaMo way ahead; having two major islands blocking itʻs swell train, Maʻalaea is way more under fed in the wave catagory; seems there is always something to ride at Alamo year round…Aloha ke Hoa…nanea oe ka nalu…Ka Manu Kapalulu
In the mid through late 70’s guys would stand on the pole with the triangle on the top at Bowls and call out the big sets. There’s a movie with guys standing on the pole then jumping into a wave and taking off. Over the years a couple of sailboats hit the reef and broke apart just inside the break. They left the last 2 big pieces of hull there and it changed the dynamics of the break. Same for Kewalos, boat hulls are laying down there and they had to move the buoys to keep other boats from going aground.
I lived in the condo on the corner of Piikoi and Ala Moana Blvd. from 1983 till 1998. My 30th floor apartment looked right at bowls and all of Waikiki. I’ve seen 2 large swells take out the buoys while I lived there. One swell was so big, waves broke all the way across the channel from Bomburas to bowls at least 100 feet beyond the buoys. The only guys who could surf were spongers going after the reform right along the edge of the channel. The Coast Guard came out and chased everyone out of the water. That swell lasted a week, and I’ve never seen it as big since. The best place to surf was way outside Waikiki. There was an unreal thick left that rolled in there. I have shots of that swell somewhere, both photos and video. One of these days I’ll find them.
When the surf gets that big it pushes the sewage from the outfall pipes all the way in and the water gets real nasty.
This thread has me remembering a summer I spent in Honolulu in 1965 when I was 19. I lived near Kuhio and Kalakaua with several guys. It was across the street from a well-known Chinese restaurant that would light off hundreds of firecrackers every night at 5pm. I worked night shift at the Dole cannery in the bran mill. I quit after a while and spent the rest of the summer surfing. Every day I would walk through the Army base and paddle out at Kaiser’s. One day they emptied the water with the tsunami sirens and everybody went up to the 2nd floor of the Ilikai and they served free drinks while we waited for an hour or so, but it never showed. Went to Duke’s one night and Don Ho bird-dogged my date. We lived mostly on rice and fish to save money. I was always treated well in the water - if someone lost their board it would often be paddled back out to you under someone’s toe and you would do the same. Lot’s of good memories.
When still in high school in the 60ʻs [ʻ64 maybe] a south swell arrived in the spring that was the biggest I ever saw; I cruised to AlaMo after school and no one was out and EVERY set was capping the pole and closing the channel; I figured Waikiki saw surfable so I headed there; I ended up paddling out BEYOND Publics to a place I think is called “Steamer Lane”; it was way the hell out there and was a solid 10ft with bigger sets and a handful of people; I think this was the lineup that the Duke took off from on that famous ride that ended in front of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel; I believe this possible after having surfed the break and checking out the angle he would have ridden; he would definitely have had to catch a macker, 15ft at least and just aimed that redwood plank toward the Royal and cruised; the wave had gentle, sloping face and the curl broke on the top 1/3rd and rolled down; very forgiving for such a large wave; and the surface conditions were your typical sweet Waikiki trades; I felt privileged to surf a legendary spot with a great name,Steamer Lane, and some history connected with the great Duke; never saw it like that again…Anybody else surf it?..
Alamoana,
Sorry to say that I do not think I have ever seen the place called Steamers Lane break. My Dad used to point out to where it was, and of course tell me the stories of Duke and his “blue bird waves”, far out from Waikiki. Used to listen to the Uncle’s tell their stories of how big the Waikiki area used to get. They had plenty of reasons for why the surf in the Waikiki area did not break they way it did decades prior, and, for the most part, they made sense to me. I do know that the last two hurricanes to hit the Island chain seem to have changed the way many of the breaks now handle different direction south swells.
Glad you got to ride that place. Definitely a memory you should treasure.
One of the missing pieces of history surrounding Ala Mo’ is the polio victim Lee Wey Do, I’m sure I f’d up the spelling, but Lee was in my opinion the most progressive surfer in the water at that time. His style used more top to bottom surfing than any other in the water at that time could do, the fact that he could not ride in a standing manner in unimportant. He would always be out on the biggest days, driving off the bottom, leg thrown off the rail to square off his turns and then either whip a cut back into the hook or quickly scramble all the way to the nose and be off the tip back to his chest, only to as quickly get back to the tail for a cut back.
I’ve never seen another surfer belly ride a board the way he could and did
Belly ride = Paipo boarder?
Anything but a paipo rider, he rode full length Inter-Islands as good or better than any of the stand up guys of that era
yea Jim I remember that guy. When i was just learning you took me to Ala Mo on a good day. It was crowded so I sat in the Channel and watched. The guy got a lot of respect and ripped the place. I sat and watched him get barreled time after time. I wonder what happened to him?
I went to school and surfed with Lei Wai Doo and got to witness his surfing ability many times at big and little AlaMo; as described he had a lay down style on a regular length board; he had a very strong upper body so he could paddle with power but his legs were not functional due to polio; he could obviously swim and Iʻm sure I must have seen him wipeout once; but he could rip a wave with style and he was highly respected by the regulars; thinking back on it all I donʻt know how he got his board in and out of the water, if he had help or he figured out the system by himself; one of lifeʻs mysteries!! Lei went on to a political career in Honolulu and could possibly be reading this thread; I never really thought about boat hulls sunk around the channel but I can visualize the impact it could have on the wave if it were big enough; we saw some close calls in the boat huli dept. during big swells but never witnessed the full on flip job; by the way, that chinese restaurant with the fireworks was maybe Lau yee Chai, Waikikiʻs most famous and what a good laugh, Don Ho bird dogging your kumu; he probably did that to sooo many bros…high times in the 60ʻs
Lee Wai Doo became a lawyer and a local politician. Not sure what he does these days.
Ala Moana I think I saw Steamer Lane breaking during that macking south swell we had. If I can find the shots I took, I’ll post them.
I have also seen good ridable waves breaking out by the Red Buoy outside diamond head. I was thinking about paddling out there but I haven’t seen it good since the one time it was going off. You could paddle out there and surf then ride another break just inside that and then another and keep doing that till you get to Lighthouse the go in from there. Probably 4 breaks from Lighthouse to the outside.
Spent a lot of time with Lei Wai, in and out of the water–I sometimes just paddled back out, sat and waited , to see what his next wave would look like, because of the positions he got into, Holding on to a longboard, with no leash back then, and taking a few on the head and back, was not easy, if you can imagine. would always keep an eye out, in case he lost his board. As mentioned before, common courtesy was to paddle boards back out, if you found one, then wave and yell until someone claimed it. He had incredible upper body strength. I capped a few rides with him to surf, in his special designed station wagon, when they lived down near Vineyard . He became an attorney, as mentioned before, and did a lot of work in making peace with the surfers, body boarders, windsurfers etc. and I believe, was involved in the Diamond Head settlement. He moved to Palolo, and was involved in many community type projects–Fought for the little guy, any one really, that had a Ethical position in a legal matter–Donated a lot of time–Classy, soft spoken guy, with a huge heart, and balls the size of barrels–One of the true heros… ( If I remember, he kept his crutches on Ewa side of the rocks, on the side of the little sandy go out spot–I watched him crawl up once, but most often, someone would spot him coming in , and there was always someone there to help…)
One of the best perks about surfing Oahu south shore year after year was to witness some waves of size and power at places you wouldnʻt expect; I had another one of a kind experience at Sandy Beach in the 60ʻs; Sandy was our go to place to body whomp and get your eggs scrambled and we loved it; clear, clean water and a kick ass barrel to hide in; I could of never imagined waves breaking 1/4 mile off the beach, 12-15ft and heavy like the n shore; but one day a huge east swell slammed into that coastline and after school I paddled out to this huge,ugly, gnarly left straight outside the bodysurfing beach at Sandy; horror stories of boards being swept by the rip all the way to Portlock Pt. that morning when the swell was peaking circulated the parking lot; comforting news just before a paddle out to some unknown mysto break!!! but we all survived it to ride again; In my day we never surfed any of that coastline; usually too jagged and windblown; we were too spoiled on the groomed,quality waves of Waikiki; but all those off key spots are surfed all the time by hardy souls these days and they can produce quality waves with the right conditions; Sandy Beach blew our minds for those two days of massive waves; never saw that again…did you???
Saw the same swell-- Unbelievable east/northeast swell—There were some pictures in one of the publications , if anyone still remembers which one…Couldn’t hardly see anyone outside–Didn’t have the cojones to even take my board with me–If I remember Jackie Eberle lost his board, barely made it in at the cove before Blowhole, they jumped into someone’s car, and found his board outside of China Walls, at Portlock-- Heard also about, but never got it, epic days at Rabbit Island, kona weather, glassy all day–Don’t look down doing the paddle though… Sandy Beach ,before they paved the parking lot, was the best-- Keawe thorns in your feet reminded you to keep your slippers on, all the way to the beach, and then some…Only guys down there were the beach fisherman, mostly Chinese guys with long rods–Most of the guys were fishing the Ulua grounds towards Haunama–Also, I remember being there a few time for the midnight drag races, between Sandy’s and Makapuu. When the cops came, only one way in, one way out–Cockroaches in the headlights!!
We were super fortunate to have grown up at that time on Oahu and being young surfers exploring all the possibilities around the whole island; my close friend grew up in Kaneohe and their go to spot was Kahana Bay; when they came to town they surfed Kewalo,.Panicʻs and Flies and seldom ventured to AlaMo; but this wasnʻt the case with the Waimanalo crew who started hanging at Alamo and eventually assimilated right into the inner core and we all became good buddies; who couldnʻt like them; they could all surf, play music [the Pahinui Bros] and they were funny as hell and great to party with…never did ride Rabbit Island though but heard that it was an epic wave when good conditions converged; the paddle out must have been scarier then shit; deep water, long and sharky; the" Waima Town" crew would tell us all about it, being one of the crown jewels of their regular spots; also never caught China Walls but heard it was really sweet on the right swell…so many spots…everyone had their favorites
In the first few days of being in Hawaii, put up by the USAF in the Prince Kuhio Hotel on Kuhio Blvd., evening opened with the sudden sounds of one of those 10,000 salute strings being lit near by. I flew down the stairs looking for where is was coming from and headed towards the explosions. I was running full speed down the sidewalk when it felt like I had stepped on a cigarette butt, I kept running but it was hurting even more really fast. I watched the string of firecrackers, but was in real pain and hobbled back to the hotel to look at my foot, when I got to our room and looked at it, it had a red spot in the center and the viens in my legs were red streaks going up my leg.
A few days later the center where is was the reddest started peeling and was brown around that, I hadn’t stepped on a cigarette, I stepped on a scorpion and got stung in the instep, I’ve been tagged a few more times by them, but that was one mean MFer
Probably a big centipede–They live in the expansion joints of the sidewalks-Scorpions wouldn’t be seen around the open areas much–The Centipedes we saw up in the Valleys could get as long as 8 or ten inches, and were really fat bastards–Nasty stings, as you have mentioned–had to hobble around for at least 2-3 days–(We never wore shoes until we went into 7th grade)–Luau feet …Mac
Last year was the first time I ever saw Kahana bay break at least over head. It was the first time I ever surfed it had a great time it was breaking on the reef in the middle of the bay. Guys were surfing at the point on the Punaluu side and on the Kaaawa side also. I left work early that day my coworker got the call saying it was the place to be. We got there in the afternoon and all we heard was you should have been here this morning.
That is rare–In the 60’s or early 70’s, I remember a swell that broke way outside , on the left side of the bay–I didn’t know how big it really was, but guys told me it was a legitimate big wave–I did not ever surf it—Did surf the right in front of the Resturant, Crouching Lion, though, and that could be a very good wave. Being from Kaneohe, what "Secret "Spots did you guys ride, or still ride?? (Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me!!) I remember guys telling me about the left off the base, Flat Island , and some other mysto reefs, and Islands outside the Bay…